COUNTERFEIT MONEY ORDERS

COMMON FACTORS TO THE SCHEME

• Contact is via the Internet, either in a chatroom, by email, or via the purchase of goods or services.
• Communications often contain misspellings, poor grammar, or improperly used words.
• Counterfeits are most often denominated from $800 to $1,000. Commercial checks and other money orders can be in varying amounts, but are most often at least triple this amount.
• Victims wire funds to the fraudsters, sometimes keeping a portion of the proceeds for themselves.
• Transactions involving the purchase of merchandise often involve payment in an amount greater than the purchase, with a request to wire back excess funds.